It was early Cold War days when 17-year-old David Eagles applied to the Fleet Air Arm hoping to be a fighter pilot for his national service. He little imagined the career that would follow. After flying training with the US Navy and Australian Fleet Air Arm, he settled into Fleet Air Arm fighter pilot life. He progressed through Naval Test Pilot duties – where he was forced to eject from a Buccaneer during catapult launch trials – before joining British Aerospace and playi...

This official U.S. government guide to piloting aircraft-created by the Federal Aviation Administration-is the essential resource for finding the knowledge and skills to fly all types of planes. It includes an introduction to flight training and official information on ground operations, basic flight maneuvers, slow flight, stalls and spins, takeoff and departure climbs, ground reference maneuvers, airport traffic patterns, approaches and landings, performance maneuvers, and night operatio...

North America's vast land mass, sparse population, and deserted north were perfectly suited for aircraft operations on skis and pontoons. The bush pilots opened the North, exploring to its farthest reaches, establishing communication between isolated settlements, delivering supplies, medicines, medical assistance and the mail. They were superb pilots and mechanics, dare devils, barnstormers, inventors, and explorers. Operating without compasses, radios, or detailed maps, they built their a...

In December 1943, a top secret contract (E.24/43) was awarded to Miles Aircraft. The contract was to build the world's first supersonic jet capable of 1000mph. The only reliable source of data on supersonic objects came from the Armament Research Dept and their wind tunnel tests on ammunition. From this, Miles developed an exceptionally thin-winged, bullet-shaped aircraft. the research was inexplicably passed to the Americans in 1944. By December 1945, one prototype was vi...

**NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER“Negroni is a talented aviation journalist who clearly understands the critically important part the human factor plays in aviation safety.”** —Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, pilot of US Airways 1549, the Miracle on the HudsonA fascinating exploration of how humans and machines fail—leading to air disasters from Amelia Earhart to MH370—and how the lessons learned from these accidents have made flying safer.

An engaging look into the culture of those who fly high-tech fighters and bombers and one pilot's personal account of his career in the cockpit.The F-117 Stealth Nighthawk was a truly groundbreaking aircraft when introduced in the early 1980s. The strange shape of the jet, all flat panels and angles, rendered the aircraft nearly invisible to radar. This highly classified program wasn't acknowledged publicly by the U.S. Air Force until 1988. The Nighthawk was retire...

A celebration, as well as a thoroughly researched history, of a truly brilliant machine that became a sky god of its eraJonathan Glancey tells the story of this magnificent and hugely popular aircraft anew, taking the reader from the moment Captain Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier in 1947 through to the last commercial flight of the supersonic airliner in 2003. It is a tale of national rivalries, technological leaps, daring prototypes, tightrope politics, ...

In the history of the aeroplane there is one aircraft that is fully deserving of the accolade legendary". Little Book of the Spitfire written by David Curnock tells its' story. Against overwhelming odds in the Battle of Britain, and taking part in major actions in every operational theatre in World War 2, the Spitfire became a symbol of victory. Built in greater numbers than any other aircraft of the time, examples of this icon of British aviation achievement are still flying today, paying...

The British Aircraft Corporation was formed from The Bristol Aeroplane Company, English Electric, Vickers-Armstrong and Hunting in 1960. In its short, seventeen-year, life, the British Aircraft Corporation built some of the most important aircraft and missiles of the 1960s, 1970s and beyond: its best-known products included the Jaguar and Tornado warplanes, Rapier missile and One-Eleven airliner. It was also responsible for the stillborn TSR2 strike aircraft, the 1965 cancellation of which...

Among the many technological advances of this century that have shrunk our country, few have had as great an impact as aviation. Technologies evolve and national priorities change, but the qualities necessary to design aircraft, fly them in war and peace, and manage airlines remain constant. In this, his second book about pioneers of Canadian aviation, Peter Pigott brings a richness and understanding of the individuals themselves to the reader.Flying Canucks II takes us in...

One of the world's greatest aircraft, for three decades pilots enthused about the Hunter and its smooth lines, Rolls-Royce Avon engine, outstanding handling characteristics and lively performance. Designed by Sir Sydney Camm, the genius behind the Hurricane, work on the Hunter commenced late in 1948, but the post-war economic situation in Britain delayed its first flight until 20 July 1951. In September 1953 Neville Duke piloted a Hunter to shatter the world speed record. This book traces ...

On February 20, 1959, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker announced to the House of Commons the cancellation of the CF-105 Arrow. Its development costs to that time were $340 million. The Arrow was to be the world’s unsurpassed interceptor aircraft. Yet within two months of the Prime Minister’s announcement, six completed aircraft were dismantled and all papers and documents associated with the project were destroyed.Here is the history and development of the Arrow - the plane that wou...